People who actively take pictures of themselves – selfies – do so to share these images on social networks, forward them to each other, and gather feedback from friends.
However, it looks as though humans are not the only species to have this kind of fun.
A black bear from Colorado went viral online as it took several hundred “selfies” with the help of a camera trap, US media reported.
The curious animal was captured by one of the cameras installed by the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP). The organization used camera traps to monitor the wildlife. As a result, of the 580 photos collected in this way, about 400 turned out to be portraits of the same beast.
“In this instance, a bear took a special interest in one of our wildlife cameras and took the opportunity to capture hundreds of ‘selfies’,” Phillip Yates, a spokesman for Open Space and Mountain Parks, said.
The national park staff said that they had never received so many photos of a single animal.
The information collected by cameras is used in planning measures to protect the wild animals’ natural habitat. The cameras also help understand which animals live in Colorado and what they do during the day, week or even year.
Many species are classified as “data-deficient” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which documents threatened and endangered species. The good news is that the American Black Bear – which was caught on camera – is listed as a species of “least concern” by the IUCN as its numbers are on the rise.
Haha! Gorgeous! ❤️